* Netflix, eBay jump after quarterly results
* Dollar gains as stocks come off their highs
* Dow up 0.4 pct, S&P up 0.2 pct, Nasdaq up 0.1 pct (Updates to afternoon)
By Angela Moon
NEW YORK, Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were slightly higher on Thursday on strong corporate earnings, but the indexes were well off their highs as the euro weakened and commodity prices fell.
Blue chips McDonald's Corp and Travelers Cos Inc helped lift the Dow index after reporting better-than-expected results.
Stocks rose nearly 1 percent earlier but the gains were trimmed by afternoon trade as the U.S. dollar gained ground. The dollar was up 0.3 percent against major currencies, while the euro fell 0.2 percent.
The euro and the popularly traded S&P E-mini futures contract have tracked each other closely in the last month. In the last 22 sessions, they have had a positive correlation coefficient of 0.89, implying a very strong relationship between the two.
"You can basically trace the selloff in equities right back to the way the dollar's behaving," said Craig Peckham, equity trading strategist at Jefferies & Company in New York.
"It is largely a recurrence of that macro risk-on-risk-off trade and the simplest barometer of that recurring environment is expressed with the dollar."
This action helps explain why the markets can seemingly slough off the decline of Caterpillar, which is down despite strong results. The stock fell 1.7 percent to $78.54, but the S&P 500 industrial sector index was up 0.6 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 44.27 points, or 0.40 percent, at 11,152.24. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 2.76 points, or 0.23 percent, at 1,180.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.00 points, or 0.12 percent, at 2,460.39.
Online auctioneer eBay rose 8.9 percent to $27.94. Netflix, the movie rental and streaming service, jumped 12.1 percent to $171.69 after both reported upbeat results late Wednesday.
McDonald's gained 1.8 percent to $78.81 after it beat expectations for quarterly profit and same-store sales growth in September.
Travelers' shares gained 0.8 percent to $55.10 after the largest publicly traded U.S. property casualty insurer easily beat estimates as premiums rose in its personal insurance lines.
Bank of America was the biggest decliner on the Dow as investors worried about continuing foreclosure problems. The stock was off 2.6 percent at $11.45.
Oil prices were down 2.3 percent to $80.64 a barrel. An index of oil service stocks fell 0.5 percent. (Reporting by Angela Moon, Editing by Kenneth Barry)